Police Hiring Changes Implemented by Colton

 

by Mike Deupree, City Hall Reporter, 3-30-1977

 

Cedar Rapids Safety Commissioner Ed Colton said he plans to implement immediately a new police hiring procedure, and although he concedes there will be some problems involved with it, he said, “We’ll do whatever we have to do.”

 

Colton said Wednesday the city’s legal department is drafting letters to the five remaining men on the civil service list of qualified applicants. He said he expected the letters to be mailed Wednesday.

 

They explain the new procedure, which Colton outlined to the rest of the council Tuesday morning, and provide assurance the men understand the situation under which they will be sworn in and enrolled in the police academy that starts next month.

 

The situation is that if there aren’t openings for them when they graduate from the academy, they’ll either be given unpaid leaves of absence or laid off until vacancies occur.

 

Colton and Acting Chief Gareth Clift don’t expect that to be a problem, because they anticipate enough resignations and retirements to provide openings quite soon, perhaps as soon as the officers are ready to fill them.

 

“We may end up having only one of them, and maybe none of them, put on that special status,” Colton said.

 

He added that although formal approval is needed by the rest of the council for the appointment of the men, he doesn’t anticipate any difficulties. He said he thinks the reservations voiced Tuesday by fellow councilmen Stan Reinis and Dick Phillips can be answered to their satisfaction.

 

In a related matter, the commissioner said he is still planning on a civil service examination to provide a new list of qualified applicants in May.

 

A special mayor’s committee on minority hiring i scheduled to meet Thursday afternoon at 3, he said, followed at 4 by a meeting of the civil service commission and after those meetings the details should be worked out.

 

Two specific problems were mentioned regarding the quick scheduling of the new test and the hiring of the five extra men. In the first case, will the police department have the staff to conduct two academy classes in quick succession, and in the second, will the department have enough money to pay for the training of the five extra men.

 

Colton was positive on both matters.

 

“We’ll just have to work harder, that’s all,” he said of the first, and of the second he said more money than anticipated will be available because of changed circumstances since the city’s financial team evaluated the department’s available funds.